Some Professors are wittily dubbed “zombie professors” in many countries in Africa, implying that they are professors only in their
titles and not in intellectual status and contributions. Being nicknamed “zombie professor” is a bad enough reason to tarnish the professional reputation of an individual faculty. On the top of that, with the advent of increased availability of information on predatory
journals and publishers, many institutions and organizations are now screening professionals based on the legitimacy rather than quantity of their publications. In an effort to tell the good from the bad, Cappell ( 2015 ),
for example, recommended a format for academic curricula vitae (CVs) with papers from predatory publishers listed separately from those published in legitimate ones. Moreover, information published in predatory journals is considered“lost science,”as it
is usually not discoverable through the formal search and archiving services (Clark & Smith, 2015). Even when discovered, scientists are becoming increasingly wary of citing such papers, contributing to a declining impact, or bibliometrics, of those who publish in such
journals (Clark & Smith,2015 ). All these will affect the academic reputation and future career prospects and opportunities of academics who publish with predatory journals.
Source :Balehegn, M. (2017). Increased Publication in Predatory Journals by Developing Countries' Institutions: What it Entails? And What Can be Done?. International Information & Library Review, 1-4.
